The default clock of the Phenom II 940 is 3.00GHz, but with a fairly high 1.3500V VCore. We did not expect a 45nm CPU with such a high VCore, especially as the older Phenom's use the same VCore Voltage.



But as always we tried to lower it and it worked fine with 1.2000V. As you will see later, this has significant effects with regards to the power-consumption under load and it will save you some money on your power bill.



Overclocking in the BIOS is a piece of cake, because this is a multiplier-free Black Edition. Just increase the multiplier and off you go. With the VCore at 1.5000V we managed a stable 3.80GHz. We tried 4.00GHz but we were not able to boot. AMD recommended using the AMD OverDrive utility, but this tool limits the VCore to 1.4500V (which is essential with the older Phenoms). While AMD have lost its reputation for highly overclockable CPUs, the Phenom II does quite well. The only setback is the huge increase in power-consumption.



When idling the CPU clocks down to 800MHz and the VCore drops to 1.0000V regardless of the VCore setting in the BIOS.